Director of Manufacturing - Transformers

Key responsibilities

• Strategic leadership: Define and execute the end-to-end transformer manufacturing strategy, including capacity planning, process optimization, technology deployment, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Operational governance: Oversee all transformer production functions to ensure safe, efficient, compliant, and on-time manufacturing performance.
• Financial stewardship: Develop and manage the manufacturing budget; identify and implement cost-reduction initiatives and capital investments with measurable ROI.
• Quality and compliance: Partner with QA/QC to ensure transformers meet all specifications, standards (ISO and customer requirements), and regulatory obligations; own the corrective action and CAPA process.
• Supply chain collaboration: Align with Supply Chain, Stores, and Procurement to secure materials, manage lead times, and minimize production interruptions.
• People and leadership: Build, mentor, and retain a high-performance manufacturing leadership team; set clear objectives, develop talent, and foster a safe, inclusive, and results-driven culture.
• Production planning and scheduling: Translate demand forecasts into production plans, material requirements, and staffing strategies; optimize line layouts and bottleneck resolution.
• Process optimization: Standardize best practices across core manufacturing, winding, autoclave operations, assembly, and testing; deploy lean principles, S&OP alignment, and downtime reduction.
• Reliability and maintenance: Ensure preventive and predictive maintenance programs are in place to maximize equipment uptime and reliability.
• Risk management: Identify operational risks (supply, quality, safety, equipment) and implement mitigation strategies with contingency plans.
• Performance metrics: Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as OEE, yield, rework rate, on-time delivery, scrap, safety incidents, and cost per unit.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Lead continuous improvement projects with Engineering, QA, Supply Chain, and Customer Service to drive product quality and customer satisfaction.
• Governance and reporting: Provide regular updates to executive leadership on production performance, risks, and recovery plans; lead monthly reviews of production status and CAPA activities.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field; or 12+ years of equivalent experience with demonstrated progression to senior leadership roles.
• 10+ years of experience in transformer manufacturing or a closely related electrical/electronic manufacturing environment, including hands-on experience with transformer assembly, winding, autoclave operations, testing, and QA/QC.
• Proven track record in leading transformer production at the director or senior manager level; experience scale-building and implementing large-scale process improvements.
• Strong leadership and people-management skills with demonstrated ability to develop and retain a high-performance team.
• Excellent strategic thinking, analytical, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Superior communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to engage with customers, suppliers, and cross-functional teams at all levels.
• Financial acumen: budget development and cost-control experience, with ROI-focused decision making.
• Commitment to safety, quality, and regulatory compliance; working knowledge of ISO standards relevant to transformer manufacturing.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with competing priorities.